Polychromatic
by onelittleoncer
Summary: As Regina loses her husband Daniel, her world fades into black and white. She and her son live in despair. Miles away, Emma Swan is doing the thing she's best at, running away, with every bit of color in her life being drained. When Emma finds her way into Storybrooke and crosses paths with the Mayor, between shared looks and feelings, their lives become very polychromatic.
1. Chapter 1

Picking up the asparagus, Regina smiles as she knows this is Henry's favorite vegetable. She couldn't get the boy to eat anything else. She spent countless days trying to coax him into trying another food, perhaps yogurt or her personal favorite, apples. But Henry, he was stubborn and strong willed. Another quality the adopted boy seemed to possess from her.

Regina turns to walk toward the checkout, pushing a cart full of only the healthiest of foods for her precious Henry. The cashier rings up everything in record time, which is convenient because Regina has to meet Henry and Daniel at the stables. _Daniel._ Just saying his name in her head makes Regina smile. Daniel is her husband of twelve years, her heart and soul. She falls undeniably in love with him everyday. He always does and says the right things. Daniel took her out of a bad situation, and helped her restart her life. He has been her savior.

Regina blinks, realizing she zoned out. Pushing her cart to the exit, she walks out into the parking lot before registering what's wrong. Looking around, everything is beginning to fade into black and white. The sky, the jug of orange juice without pulp, her blood red nails. Regina's stomach starts to churn, knowing that something horrible and life changing has happened. From the pure age of five, her world had been in black and white. She felt nothing but gloom and despair. She wanted nothing more than to lay in bed and cry most days. Her mother was abusive. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally. She would tell Regina that she was worthless, that she would never amount to anything. And on her bad days, Regina would believe this. But then Daniel came, and he loved her. He showed her love, and Regina felt what it was like to experience it. She began to see color again. Everything was a bit brighter and a bit nicer. He taught her how to love herself. He's her first love, her true love. Daniel taught her that true love is magic. Daniel and Henry are her world, the only things she truly love. Now that her world was fading into black and white, Regina knew that it would go crashing down all over again. Regina rushes to her black Mercedes. She gets in, forgetting about the speed limit. Driving faster than she ever had before, she reaches the stables while breaking only a few laws. She runs to her horse Rocinante's pen, and notices he's gone. _Henry's rode him,_ she thinks. The thought of her little brown eyed boy climbing on the back of her old friend makes her smile. Regina leaves the pen and walks around back, wondering where her boys are. She smiles at her old apple tree, her comfort and safe zone before she met Daniel. Remembering why she was here and not at the grocery store, she quickly snaps out of it.

"Daniel! Henry!" Regina yells, hoping one of them will hear her.

"Henry, my boy, if you can hear momma call out!" Regina listens and she hears a small whimper.

"Henry? Can you hear me baby? Momma's here, you can come out." Regina hears footsteps and she turns. Her little boy, wide eyed and curious of the world, looked small and broken. His shirt was torn and blood was seeping from the right side of his head.

"Oh baby, what happened?" Regina is beyond frightened and confused as she coos to her boy who looks dazed.

Henry only takes her hand and drags her down the hill. Regina becomes even more panicked than she already is when realizing this MUST be where Daniel is.

"Henry, where is Daddy at?" Regina slowly asks the young boy, who has tears running down his face.

Henry pulls Regina to an oak tree sitting in the center of a grove. Regina notices blood on the ground leading up to a foot. Walking around the tree, she sees him. She sees Daniel. His broken and mangled body looks crushed. Blood is seeping into his favorite pair of black jeans, his scruffy brown hair a mixture of blood and dirt. Hoof prints are scattered on his body, across his face, on his chest, his heart. As if the horse decided to dance on Daniel, killing him in minutes while poor Henry watched while a horse went wild and murdered his father.

"Oh Daniel. Oh _Daniel._ My love. " Regina chokes out. Tears stream freely down her face, smearing her once perfectly done makeup. She drops to the ground, and clutches his chest.

"No. NO. No Daniel. _NO._ " She screams. Her throat becomes hoarse and she can feel Henry hugging her back, crying softly into it. She can't breathe, and she feels like her world has been shattered. Her throat is on fire, and she clutches his lifeless body to her chest. His face rests in the crook of her neck, and she breathes in his scent. Regina goes to full on sobbing now, hiccuping with every cry. He left her with an angel, who she would cherish. But her savior, who gave her a happy ending, was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Emma's POV**

Emma walks through her front door, kicking her heels off in the process. She makes her way toward the island in her kitchen and puts the bag of groceries that previously occupied her arms down. Reaching into the bag, she pulls out a small box containing a cupcake. She places a candle on top of the cupcake and lights it. Sighing, Emma closes her eyes and makes a wish.

"I want a new start. In a place where no one knows me. I want to find a place where I belong, a place to call home." Emma whispers to herself, a single tear sliding down her cheek.

Emma walks into the living room with her cupcake, wiping her face roughly. Another year alone.

Another year of being abandoned. Another year of feeling worthless. Just another year. By now she was used to it, but still, it didn't hurt any less.

Emma is weeping now, trying to catch her breath after every whimper. Was she ever good enough? What did she do to deserve to have no one?

Beyonce's "Single Ladies" starts blaring from her phone, and Emma wipes her tears. No more crying. She picks up her phone and answers it.

"Hey Rubs." Emma says, a faint smile appearing on her face.

" _Happy Birthday Em!"_ Ruby squeals.

"Thanks, you're the only one who remembered."

" _Oh hush, I'm sure Natalie remembered your birthday! Say, how is she?"_

"We broke up." Emma says flatly, feeling tears resurface.

" _Oh. Well more fun for you, right? Em, you should take some time off of work for a while, take a trip."_ Ruby says, trying to cheer Emma up. She shouldn't be this sad on her birthday.

"I should, shouldn't I? But to where?"

" _Oh my gosh Emma, you should come visit me! You've never been to Storybrooke! You can finally have some of Granny's lasagna, which by the way, everyone raves about!_

"I don't know Rubs.. I don't want to be a bother. I'm fine, really!" Emma sighs, for the third time tonight. Biting her nails, she looks at the calendar. Maybe she could take a few days off, after all, she did deserve it.

" _You're definitely coming, or I'll drag your ass here myself! We'll give you a room at the B &B. C'mon it'll be fun. I promise I won't embarrass you with stories about the time you-"_ Emma cuts Ruby off, cringing at the flashback of what she knew Ruby was about to say. She didn't need a reminder.

"Fine, fine I'll visit. Only for a few days though. I need to be back before the full moon, I don't need to see you in full wolf mode, again." Emma teases Ruby, and she knows on the other side of the phone, Ruby's face is blood red.

" _We don't talk about that Emma! I was wasted, as were you. Maybe we should talk about the time you decided to dance-"_ Emma stops Ruby, refusing to travel down memory lane.

"Okay Ruby, gotta go, see ya tomorrow." Emma hears Ruby's low cackling before hanging up.

Emma trudges through her apartment, stripping down into just her tank top and panties. She climbs into bed and engulfs herself into her blankets. She feels safe in bed, as though nothing could hurt her anymore. She dozes off, thinking about her trip tomorrow, and the bear claw that she will have for breakfast.

Emma wakes up to the sound of Beyonce, her phone bellowing through the apartment. Stumbling out of bed, Emma silently curses Ruby, because she knows Emma is not a morning person.

" _Good morning sunshine!"_ Ruby sings through the phone.

"What do you want Ruby?! It's-" Emma stops to look at the clock, seeing that it's past 1pm. "Well I'm just waking up."

" _Exactly. So get your ass up and come see me! I have so much to fill you in on!"_ Ruby sighs.

"I'll be there soon." Emma hangs up and walks into the bathroom, getting in the shower. It's been a long time since she'd seen Ruby. The last time had to be when Ruby came to visit her, where they'd gone to a strip club and gotten completely wasted. Emma smiles as she runs her finger through her hair, feeling glad that she had a friend like Ruby.

Emma gets out of the shower, and sighs. She'd love nothing more than to spend her weekend watching Netflix. She pulls on her signature outfit: her red leather jacket, white tank top, blue jeans, and black combat boots. She looked in the mirror and smiled. _I look hot._

Once her bags were packed and she had her bear claw, Emma climbed into her yellow Bug and left the town. She drove for hours, before finally seeing the sign she'd been looking for.

 _ **Welcome to Storybrooke.**_


End file.
